Marketing y Communications Manager in Crawley

As Marketing & Communications Manager, you are the best advocate for the Kipling and NAE brands, and will help us to drive awareness and reputation of our school - ensuring we are top of mind for prospective students and their families. You will engage all internal and external stakeholders, working closely with school and regional teams, to develop and deliver relevant and engaging content, using the right brand messages to bring to life the unique identity of the school. You'll use data and insights to ensure that MAC tactics are helping to drive enrollment performance across the school. You will lead the planning and execution of all school events across the Family Experience Journey (FEJ) touchpoints, for parents, prospective parents and students. As a part of our MAC Team, you will lead the Marketing, Comms and Events functions to develop and deliver a strategic plan that supports our recruitment and retention targets.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and implement a comprehensive Marketing Strategy for the school to support annual recruitment targets.
• Work with the DAM and Admissions Managers to create and execute a measurable and costed annual marketing plan to achieve annual recruitment targets.
• Review data weekly to ensure plans remain relevant, and pivot when needed.
• Meet with DAM and review/coordinate events and marketing activities, tracking performance metrics.
• Manage the marketing budget and the ROI of marketing activities carried out.
• Own implementation of marketing activities that drive Lead generation and conversion through pipeline.
• Manage the creation of engaging materials that bring to life the key benefits of an education at the school - video, brochures, flyers, merchandise.
• Focus activity on driving inquiries, and converting through to enrollment.
• Collaborate with Admissions team to ensure all touchpoints of the FEJ reflect premium brand.
• Manage the PR and communication strategy for the school.
• Create and implement an annual communication plan to build brand awareness and loyalty.
• Develop and build media relationships, so the school is top of mind and the first choice when journalists are looking for contributors.
• Leverage paid advertising and advertorials to gain editorial coverage aligned to school brand messages.
• With guidance from the School Principal, DAM, Regional and Central teams, respond appropriately to media enquiries.
• Support the school team on crisis communications working with the Regional and Central teams as appropriate.
• Strong communications strategy for current families, aligned across campuses, including newsletters.
• Lead the school Website strategy.
• Develop a strategic content calendar to build the school brand and meet any key communication goals, across all channels.
• Take ownership for the management and ongoing improvement of the school website via the CMS.
• Work with the regional and central teams to optimize SEO and implement recommendations for improvement.
• Use local and global data insights to help drive school performance.
• Be inspired by research. Use third party insights, competitive analysis and trends to identify opportunities.
• Use data to make sure we are measuring campaigns against commercial objectives.
• Identify and implement campus improvements and internal branding projects that bring our unique benefits and educational approach to life and enable strong storytelling for the Admissions team.
• Ensure full implementation in internal and external facing materials both offline and online (school marketing collateral, website, advertising materials etc.).
• Coach internal stakeholders to implement the visual guidelines and leverage the existing templates as well as create new ones where needed.
• Support the different school departments (academic sections, catering, charities, camps, etc.) to develop materials needed to deliver an outstanding experience for our parents & students.
• Work with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that décor/furnishings in the buildings (current and planned) and on-campus reflect our brand positioning and visual identity.
• Provide appropriate leadership, coaching and best practice sharing to other members of the MAC and wider school team.
• Provide supportive and focused leadership to enable Marketing Team members to reach their individual, team and school goals.
• Act as a role-model to other members of the MAC Team and coach the best from them.
• Support in the development of a culture where the school engages as one and works to ensure admissions is a whole school responsibility.
• Contribute to the sharing of best practice in marketing across the MAC school team, region and group.
• Perform regular competitive audits and provide business intelligence to the school MAC and SLT team and regional / central colleagues.
• Run required analytics and/or assist with preparing data for analysis.
• Assist with brand related projects such as alumni networking support.
• Support the MAC team through coordinating and promoting school recruitment events, such as Open Days and Workshops.
• Develop and execute a year-round content strategy with an ongoing pipeline of content that can be used to inspire, engage and inform all relevant internal and external stakeholders including parents, students, staff and alumni.
• Work with the School DAM to develop and sign off a content calendar for the school, using the global content plan as much as possible and amplifying through the use of local stories.
• Develop content to distribute through all appropriate channels, such as website, social media, email and print and engage the academic team to support with as much content as possible.
• Develop and manage the annual event calendar and schedule for the school.
• Develop and coordinate all internal and external events into one annual calendar and schedule for the school.
• Work with the Principals and DAM to manage the calendar for the current academic year.
• Lead the planning process for the next academic year during the annual planning cycle.
• Create and maintain the calendar of events, keeping the schedule accurate and up to date daily with all required information.
• Lead a monthly meeting with Principals and coordinators to ensure all school heads are aligned with monthly events and activities.
• Ensure this calendar is shared through the appropriate channel with all stakeholders.
• With the support of the DAM, develop and manage the school event budget, providing all key stakeholders with regular updates of actuals versus planned spend.
• Lead the development and execution of event management procedures to ensure all events are executed efficiently and effectively.
• Lead the logistical planning and project management for all major events.
• Manage an efficient invitation and attendee tracking process.
• Lead the development of procedures and guidelines to support other members of the school team to execute events effectively.
• Co-ordinate management and collateral required for external events such as school fairs and open days.
• Lead the on-the-ground execution for all major events.
• Lead the management of a roster of external vendors to provide quality and cost-effective event services.
• Co-ordinate across the MAC team to ensure all school recruitment events are appropriately staffed with MAC team members.
• Lead the development of creative themes for major events that bring to life the unique identity of the school.
• Together with the DAM, maximize branding opportunities to promote the school through community events.
• Provide planning and project management advice and support to the School Faculty for their events.
• Leverage external opportunities to showcase school performing arts and music departments such as choirs, bands and theatre performances.
• Support in planning and project management advice to the School Faculty for their events, including academic activities, and staff events including staff orientation programs and seasonal celebrations.
• Lead the promotion of major events through relevant online and offline channels.
• Co-ordinate with photographers/videographers to ensure ample collateral is produced for Communications to use in school social media and on the website news and blogs section.
• Lead the development of the photography and videography repository for the school, ensuring the highest standards are adhered to in-line with global guidelines and school aesthetic quality.
• Leverage the global photo/video bank where appropriate in school communications.
• Project management of school photo/video bank, based on global guidelines, high aesthetic quality, brand fit and appropriate parental usage rights, including a brand, facilities, teacher, and student films.
• Provide a clear brief to any external photographer/videographer or member of staff that provides photographs/videos for the school to ensure all images and film are aligned to global guidelines and brand fit.
• Create regular organic content for social media.
• Work with the school MAC team to optimize the number of events that can lead to parent recruitment.
• Lead the discussion with the Principals and SLT on which events can be leveraged for parent recruitment.
• Act as the key point of contact for events and sponsorship enquiries.
• Lead the sponsors relationship ensuring the school achieves the targeted budget.
• Ensure the events calendar contains 'open day' events.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Proven success in marketing, communications, digital media, or related fields-preferably in education, premium service, or mission driven organizations.
• Strong writing, editing, and storytelling skills with a keen understanding of audience and tone.
• Experience with digital marketing tools, analytics, CRM systems, and social media management.
• Highly proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud (especially InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere) and Canva.
• Strong project management and organizational skills; able to balance priorities and meet deadlines.
• Confident, personable, and comfortable working in a community facing environment.
• Photography and videography skills strongly preferred.
• Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends for school events.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Creative, innovative, and energized by crafting compelling narratives.
• Warm, engaging, and skilled in building rapport with students, staff, and families.
• Proactive and solution oriented, with a keen eye for detail.
• Agile and adaptable in a fast-moving school environment.
• Passionate about education and the power of storytelling to strengthen community.